LD 

AvBb 





ClassJ-JLAl^A 



PRESENTED BY 



The Presidency of Columbia 



From the Annual Report made to the Trustees 
November 3, 1921 

President Butler 
it 



NEW YORK 

PRINTED FOR THE UNIVERSITY 

1922 



rt 



l V 



am 



The Presidency of Columbia 

The presidency of Columbia is an office with a long 
and honorable history. The original Charter of 1754 
empowers the Governors of King's College, or the major 
part of them, "to elect, nominate and appoint any person 
to be president of the said College in a vacancy of the said 
presidentship for and during his good behaviour provided 
always such president elect or to be elected by them be 
a member of and in communion with the Church of 
England as by law established." 

It was apparently the plan of those who drafted this 
Charter that the President should himself be the chief 
teacher in the College, and that all other teachers were 
to be regarded as his assistants, since this provision 
immediately follows: 

"And also to elect one or more Fellow or Fellows Professor 
or Professors Tutor or Tutors to assist the President of the 
said College in the education and government of the students 
belonging to the said College which Fellow or Fellows Professor 
or Professors Tutor or Tutors and every one of them shall 
hold and enjoy their said office or place either at the will and 
pleasure of the Governors of the said corporation or during 
his or their good behaviour according as shall be agreed upon 
between such Fellow or Fellows Professor or Professors Tutor 
or Tutors and the said Governors of the said College." 

The Charter of 1787, granted by the Legislature of 
the State of New York, ratifies and confirms the Royal 
Charter of 1754, with the exception of certain named 
provisions of that Charter, including that which rendered 
a person ineligible to the office of president of the College 
on account of his religious tenets. 

The later and final Charter of 18 10, being Chapter 85 

3 



4 THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 

of the Laws of the State of New York of that year, con- 
tinues the corporate existence of the College and the 
office of president as already established. 

The Presidents of King's College, Columbia College 
and Columbia University have been twelve in number. 

The first president, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, has 
properly been described as one of the notable men of his 
time in America. He probably ranks next after Jonathan 
Edwards and Benjamin Franklin, as the most eminent 
American scholar of the 18th century. Born at Guilford, 
Connecticut, in 1696 and graduated from the College at 
Saybrook, now Yale University, in 1714, Dr. Johnson 
served as tutor in Yale for three years. After short service 
as a Congregational minister he went to England and took 
orders as a minister of the Church of England. Shortly 
after he returned to America and settled at Stratford, 
Connecticut, as a missionary of the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He received the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Oxford 
University in 1743, and Benjamin Franklin personally 
urged upon him acceptance of an invitation to become 
first president of the College at Philadelphia, now the 
University of Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin was the 
printer of Dr. Johnson's books on Logic and Ethics, and 
was his friend and frequent correspondent. President 
Johnson associated himself with the movement to es- 
tablish King's College early in the year 1754, an d upon 
the passage of the Charter became first president, which 
post he held until March 1, 1763. He lived until January 
6, 1772, and was buried in the chancel of Christ Church, 
Stratford, Connecticut. 

Dr. Johnson was succeeded by the Rev. Myles Cooper, 
Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, who although but 
twenty-eight years of age, was highly recommended by 
the Archbishop of Canterbury for his learning and charac- 






THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 5 

ter. President Cooper was also appointed to be Pro- 
fessor of Moral Philosophy. Owing to controversies 
incident to the outbreak of the American Revolution, 
which incidents form a very interesting part of the history 
of Columbia, President Cooper beat a precipitate retreat 
on May 10, 1775, and never returned to America. He 
was appointed to be Clergyman of the English Chapel, 
Edinburgh, and died there on May 20, 1785. He is buried 
in the Churchyard of Restalrig, about two miles from 
Edinburgh. 

The third president was William Samuel Johnson, son 
of the first President of King's College, and probably 
the first layman ever to be chosen administrative head of 
an institution of higher learning in either Great Britain 
or the United States. Born at Stratford, Connecticut, 
in 1728, William Samuel Johnson was graduated from 
Yale in 1744. He was trained for the law, and his pro- 
fessional and public services are well known. It is recorded 
that he instructed the students in the grammar and proper 
pronunciation of the English language. Perhaps his most 
eminent public service was as delegate to the Convention 
which framed the Constitution of the United States. 
While President of Columbia, William Samuel Johnson 
served as United States Senator from Connecticut, and 
with Oliver Ellsworth framed the bill establishing the 
federal judiciary system, substantially as it now is. When 
the sittings of Congress were removed from New York 
to Philadelphia, President Johnson resigned as Senator. 
He received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford in 1776. 
He resigned as president on July 16, 1800, and retired to 
Stratford, Connecticut, where he died in 18 19 at the ripe 
age of 93. He is buried in Christ Churchyard, Stratford. 

The fourth president was Rev. Dr. Charles H. Wharton, 
Rector of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New Jersey. 
He was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1748, and 



THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 



was educated at the Jesuits' College at St. Omer. He 
took orders in the Roman Catholic Church, but later 
adopted the views of the Church of England. For eight 
years he served as a trustee of Princeton. President 
Wharton's service at Columbia was almost nominal, since 
having been elected on May 25, 1801, he retired on De- 
cember 11 of the same year, having concluded to remain 
with his Burlington parish. President Wharton was 
highly regarded as a scholar, and had great influence 
among the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
He died on July 23, 1833, as Rector of St. Mary's Church, 
Burlington, New Jersey, and is buried in the church- 
yard there. 

Following President Wharton's resignation, the Trustees 
took action to separate the office of president from any 
professorship, and provided that the president should 
thereafter be charged merely with the general superin- 
tendence of the institution. Upon the adoption of this 
policy the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore of the Class of 1768, 
Bishop of New York, was chosen fifth president. Presi- 
dent Moore had served earlier as Professor of Rhetoric 
and Logic. He was never able to give undivided attention 
to the affairs of the College, and during his official tenure 
the duties of president were largely performed by pro- 
fessors who served in rotation. The result was so un- 
satisfactory that we find it recorded that the friends of the 
College "almost despaired of its resuscitation." In March, 
181 1, President Moore resigned. He died on February 
27, 1816, and is buried in Trinity Churchyard, New York. 

Following the resignation of President Moore and in 
order to secure for the College the services of the Rev. 
Dr. John M. Mason, a great pulpit orator and afterwards 
President of Dickinson College, the Trustees established 
an administrative post additional to that of president, 
and really superior to it, with the title of Provost. Dr. 



THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 7 

Mason was chosen Provost, while the presidency went 
to the Rev. Dr. William Harris, a graduate of Harvard 
College in the Class of 1786, and Rector of St. Mark's 
Church in the city of New York. This plan did not work 
well, and Provost Mason resigned in July, 1816, after 
which the duties of Provost were merged in those of the 
President. President Harris served until his death in 
the autumn of 1829. He is buried in the Churchyard of 
St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, New York City. 

The seventh president was William Alexander Duer, 
a man of quite different type. President Duer was born 
at Rhinebeck in 1780, and came of one of the best families 
in the Province of New York. He had served as Midship- 
man in the Navy under Decatur, had studied law with 
Edward Livingston, and had seen active service in the 
Legislature of New York, and when elected President in 
1829 was a Justice of the Circuit Court of the State. 
President Duer served through a troubled period of the 
institution's history until May 2, 1842, when he resigned 
on account of failing health. He died on May 30, 1858, 
and is buried in the old cemetery behind the Presbyterian 
Church at Morristown, N. J. 

The eighth president, Nathaniel F. Moore of the Class 
of 1802, was a nephew of President Benjamin Moore. 
He was born at Newtown, New York, in 1782, and after 
his graduation from Columbia studied law and was ad- 
mitted to the Bar. A few years later he became Adjunct 
Professor of Greek and Latin in Columbia College, and 
then Professor of those languages, which chair he held 
for fifteen years. After several years spent in travel in 
Europe and the Orient, Dr. Moore returned to New York 
and was elected President to succeed Mr. Duer. He re- 
signed the presidency in 1849, and lived in retirement 
until 1872, when he died at the great age of 90 years. He 
is buried in the Churchyard of St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, 



8 



THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 



New York. The first historical sketch of Columbia Col- 
lege was written by President Nathaniel F. Moore and 
published in 1849. 

The ninth president, Dr. Charles King, was, like Presi- 
dent Duer, a man of high position and large influence in 
the social and public life of New York. He was a son of 
Rufus King, born in New York City in 1789. He was 
educated at Harrow, at Oxford and at Paris. After some 
years spent in business and in journalism he was chosen 
to the presidency of Columbia in 1849. He resigned his 
office on March 7, 1864, and went to live abroad. Dr. 
King died at Frascati in 1867, and is buried in the Church- 
yard of the Episcopal Church, Jamaica, Long Island. 

Dr. King was succeeded by Frederick A. P. Barnard, 
who was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 1809, and 
graduated at Yale College in 1828. Dr. Barnard's career 
in the Universities of Alabama and Mississippi is well 
known. He was a scholar of national and international 
reputation and accomplishment before his election to be 
President of Columbia in 1864. He was a prophet and a 
seer in the field of education, and his farseeing vision 
anticipated many of the happenings that have taken 
place since his death. He died in 1889 and is buried in a 
chapel erected by the Trustees of the University at Shef- 
field, Massachusetts. 

Following the death of Dr. Barnard, and having in 
mind the need of closely relating the work of Columbia to 
the city of New York, the Trustees chose as president 
Seth Low of the Class of 1870, a man rather of the type 
of President Duer and President King than of President 
Barnard. President Low took up vigorously the question 
of organizing Columbia as a university to attack the 
problems that were before it, and of rebuilding it upon a 
new and adequate site where it would find a permanent 
home. In eleven years these tasks were accomplished, 



THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 9 

and President Low resigned to accept nomination to be 
Mayor of the city of New York. After serving a term 
in that important office, Mr. Low occupied himself 
actively with matters of public concern until his death 
at the age of 66 in 191 6. Mr. Low is buried in Greenwood 
Cemetery, Brooklyn. 

The twelfth president was designated acting president 
in succession to Mr. Low on October 2, 1901, and was 
elected President on January 6, 1902. 

It appears that of the twelve presidents, six have 
been clergymen and six (President Barnard being reck- 
oned as a layman) have been laymen, an exceptional fact 
in the history of higher education in English-speaking 
lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the twelve, 
four were graduates of Columbia, three of Yale, one of 
Harvard, and one of Oxford, while three, namely Presi- 
dents Wharton, Duer and King, are not known to have 
completed an undergraduate college course. 

The duties of the President of Columbia have strangely 
changed since the office was established. None of the 
duties that devolved immediately upon President Samuel 
Johnson are now performed by his successor. Very few 
of the duties and responsibilities that were directly borne 
by President Barnard, or even by President Low, are 
now borne by their successor. These duties are performed 
by the various Deans and Directors and by other chief 
administrative officers among whom they have been 
divided. The President of the University is now occupied 
almost entirely with problems newly arisen out of new 
developments and new conditions. He must live largely 
in the future, and must concern himself chiefly with 
those major policies and acts that affect the prosperity, 
the influence and the prestige of the institution as a 
whole. His duties may best be stated in terms of the 
English political system as those of prime minister holding 



IO THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 

the portfolios of foreign affairs and of the treasury. As 
to all matters of internal administration the President 
is the counsellor and adviser of those to whom these 
duties are directly entrusted. In the strict sense of the 
word, the administrative head of Columbia University is 
neither a college president nor even a university president ; 
he is President of Columbia University. His duties and 
occupations are unique because Columbia is unique. 






■ 



THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA II 

PORTRAITS OF THE PRESIDENTS OF COLUMBIA 

I. Samuel Johnson 

Painted before 1757, when it was presented to King's 
College. 

In Trustees' Room, University Library 
II. Myles Cooper 

Painted in 1768-9 by John Singleton Copley. 

In Trustees' Room, University Library 
Second copy In Dining-room, President's House 

III. William Samuel Johnson 

Copy by S. L. Waldo of original painted in 1792 by 
Gilbert Stuart; owned by Mr. Charles Frederick 
Johnson of Dorchester, Mass. ; presented to Colum- 
bia College by the New York Historical Society in 

1820. 

In Trustees' Room, University Library 

IV. Charles Henry Wharton 

Copy of original in the possession of St. Mary's 
Church, Burlington, N. J., by unknown painter; 
painted in 1897 by William H. Hyde. 

In office of the Librarian, University Library 
V. Benjamin Moore 

By unknown painter; purchased by Columbia Col- 
lege in 1819. 

In Dining-room, President's House 
VI. William Harris 

By unknown painter; painted in 1819. 

In office of the President, University Library 
VII. William Alexander Duer 

Painted by Henry Inman about 1840. 

In Trustees' Room, University Library 
Smaller portrait by unknown painter. 

In Dining-room, President's House 
VIII. Nathaniel Fish Moore 

By unknown painter; presented to Columbia College 
in 1835. 

In office of the President, University Library 



12 THE PRESIDENCY OF COLUMBIA 

IX. Charles King 

Painted by S. L. Waldo and Charles C. Ingham; 
presented to Columbia College in 1851. 

In office of the President, University Library 

X. Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard 
Painted by Eastman Johnson in 1886. 

In Auditorium, Earl Hall 

Second portrait: painted by Franklin Tuttle in 1886. 

In third floor corridor, Students Hall, 

Barnard College 

Third portrait: by unknown painter. 

In office of the Dean of Barnard College, 

Milbank Hall 

XI. Seth Low 

Painted by Daniel Huntington in 1899. 

In Auditorium, Earl Hall 

XII. Nicholas Murray Butler 

Painted by Frank D. Millet in 1907. 

In Law Library, Kent Hall 
Second portrait: painted by Irving R. Wiles in 1907. 
In University Library, University of Berlin 
Third portrait: painted by A. Muranyi in 191 8. 

In Dining-room, President' 's House 



